I guess I’m probably a realist . So I know that there are elements of life which create pessimists. I, however, prefer to be an optimistic . . . (I believe it might be referred to as ‘burying your head in the sand’)?

I agree with his statements, but most people would call me a pessimist. Pessimism gets a bad rap and I don’t understand why people (in the US) think it makes you a bad person. It’s simply a lens to view the world and nothing more. It certainly doesn’t define my “moral” character. I just don’t expect things to work out fine and dandy all the time.

Upon further thought, I think the reviling of pessimism in America might be for religious reason. In the religious US you always have to “hope in the Lord” or you’re considered unfaithful. So there’s that.

Thanks for providing that article, Victoria. It’s good to see something like that finally in the media. I used to work as a psych nurse and even that field is saturated in “positivism.” Every time a suicidal person walked on our unit and was forced to endure classes on how to be thankful, I inwardly cringed. Nothing wrong with being thankful, but one also needs to acknowledge their losses, and that was never done on our unit. It made me sick that we were abusing people with this message of “only the positive is acceptable” when what they needed most was to talk about why they were suffering so much.

Yes, the world is troubled. Yes, human nature is questionable. Yes, nonsense, triviality, and deceit dominate our societies. I wonder, though, what the inference is. Should we give up trying to make things better? Should we commit mass suicide because there is no hope left? I say, NO.

No matter how bad things are or are likely to be, I – for one – feel obligated by our shared existence to work towards improving the human condition as well as improving the condition of all life on this fragile little planet. That I should succeed or fail isn’t important. What’s important is that I try to succeed.

Is that pessimism a Mormon trait? The evangelicals I know commit all manner of sin, yet keep insisting they are assured of going to heaven as long as they remain faithful to Jesus. That’s not pessimistic, that’s about as optimistic as one could possibly imagine.

Sure, it’s also patently self-serving. But, evangelicals actually believe it. To think that one’s unethical, immoral, or criminal behavior can be absolved solely by one’s faith in god – or any particular idea – is about as optimistic as optimism can get.

Religion is the opium of the masses. The masses are inherently stupid. The problems of the world would all be happily resolved if everyone would only think like me. So everyone discard all their clothes, gather for a group hug and let’s begin Happy Hour/Cocktail Time twenty-four hours a day!

Meanness, humbug, trouble and other bad things have always been wandering around me. They possibly still do so, but then they do not come near enough to harm me, so I thank my lucky constellation, and feel optimistic.
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"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” Lewis Carroll